Medical Waste

The primary objective of medical waste management is to minimize the risk of disease transmission. In reality, a significant portion of medical waste is actually considered to be non-infectious. To reduce both the risk of infection and the cost of disposing of infectious waste, non-infectious waste must be segregated from infectious or RMW at the point of generation as determined primarily by state rather than federal regulations (Table 4).9,17

Discharge into a sanitary sewer is acceptable, unless considered as RMW by county or local laws or regulations

In general, guidance pertaining to non-infectious medical waste disposal falls under the same state and/or local regulations as office waste.4,9,17,18 Liquid RMW generated by suctioning during surgical procedures must be collected in leak-proof, burst resistant suction canisters and disposed of into the sanitary sewage system in compliance with state and/or local regulations. Contaminated sharps must be placed into a sharps container and other RMW must be placed into a “biohazard bag” stored inside a container.4,9,17,18